Boots pharmacy technicians visited schools on the Isle of Wight to administer the vaccinations to children aged 4-11 years, the multiple explained yesterday (March 21).

The vaccinations were prescribed by a Boots independent prescriber using a patient specific direction (PSD), the multiple added.

Pharmacy technicians Sharon Bunch and Hannah Hine led the trial, supported by pharmacist independent prescriber Krupa Patel, Boots said.

The multiple provided specialist training for the team, including techniques for dealing with children and their varied attitudes to receiving the vaccination, it said.

Boots’ chief pharmacist Marc Donovan said the pilot was “a great opportunity to demonstrate the power of the whole pharmacy team”, with independent prescribers and pharmacy technicians working together “in a new way”.

“I’d like to get to a future where pharmacy technicians can consistently offer a deeper level of care to our patients,” he added.

There are “many learnings to take forward about how we can develop this scheme and roll it out wider in the future”, Mr Donovan said.

Liz Fidler, president of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK, said: “I am delighted that further work will be undertaken to embed the contribution pharmacy technicians can make using PSDs.”

C+D has asked Boots for more detail on its plans following the pilot.